bot fly goo

[Tam O Ham]

So, George has recently had several bot fly larva pulled out of her face. It's been disgusting and horrifying and she's taken it much better than I have. I've got a very rabbit savvy vet that I'm going to ask as well on Monday when the office opens again but in the meantime I know there are some really rabbit savvy owners here as well.

1. George had one in her upper lip. It was removed but her lip is pretty swollen on that side. The larva secret this weird brown stuff that might as well be liquid cement and some of it has gotten on George's nostril on that side and between that and the swelling, it's sealed that side down so that she can hardly breathe out of it. She's still breathing just fine out of her other nostril but she's really struggling with the sealed one, struggling to breathe through it, she's only cleaning it in a regular finicky bunny kind of way so she's not in pain but not being able to breathe is slowing down her eating hugely (I'm supplementing with critical care). Is there any way I can get that stuff off her safely or is it simply a matter of time letting it unseal itself naturally?

2. What's my wait period on this? I'm especially trying to get an angle on how long I can go without seeing new air holes until I can breathe a sigh of relief and know I'm in the clear. So far I found the first one on Monday and the last Friday. She hasn't been outside since this all started.

3. Oh my God! what an awful bug! Georgie's an indoor bunny who only goes out for a twenty minute jaunt in her yard every morning and she absolutely LOVES the time but now - holy crap! I don't ever want to let her outside again. One of them was in her eyelid! Ugh. Just - ugh. Nature is terrifying and pretty darn disgusting too. (sorry, that's not a question but I had to get this out somewhere)

Thanks in advance. Any help at all on the subject would be lovely. She's been such a trooper all the way through this and I want to keep her healthy and get her through the best way possible. She's my snuggle bun (except when I'm giving her the antibiotics).

 

[JBun]

Oh wow! And here I was thinking that with winter here, these issues were over for the year. Guess not in Florida

It sounds like the goo around the wound may be dissolved protein from the warbles(bot fly) enzymes or possibly a secondary infection which may need cleaning out by your vet. Is their office open tomorrow that you could give them a call?

If you can't get a hold of them til Mon. you may be able to use some sterile saline to try and clean up the goo, soaking a cloth and holding it over the area, but be extremely careful that none of the saline is held over an open nostril so that it could be aspirated.

Also if your bun isn't on metacam, it would be good to ask the vet for some, as this will not only provide some pain relief, but also help bring down some of the inflammation and swelling.

Bot fly development seems to be generally around 30 days for emergence. You can find more detailed info in this link.
http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Warbles_Lagomorphs.htm

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/Cuterebra/Miyasis_botfly.htm (WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS)

Your poor bun. I hope there aren't any more and you've seen the last of them. Sounds just awful for the both of you.

 

[Blue eyes]

How awful for your poor bunny. Thanks to Jenny for being such a wealth of information!

I don't blame you for not wanting to let her out anymore. If it is any consolation, my bunnies are indoors all the time. It may be only a handful of times per year that they go out. (We live in the desert and it is usually way too hot for them!) But they do just fine indoors all the time. I do have bunny-proofed areas for them, so you may want to consider keeping them in at least until all this clears up.

 

[Tam O Ham]

Jenny: that was wonderful advice. The saline solution worked wonders even if Georgie wasn't too impressed with the taste when she tried to nick one of the q-tips I was using. She's still congested but I think just having that opening will help a lot. And I did get metacam from the vet today as well. He gave it specifically to help with inflammation so thank you for bringing it up or I wouldn't have been aware it was for anything beyond pain. She'll be getting that nightly for the next week or so.

Florida is... Florida. lol. I love it but we are known for our weird things and this is now two vets that have mentioned never having seen anything like what George managed to pull off despite this being horse (and bunny) territory where I live. So - yay for originality?

Again, thanks so much for the help. It let me really get things started off right and any foot forward I can give her in this is a blessing.

Blue Eyes: I know right?! Georgie is a house bunny as well. She's pretty much got the run of the place. But our routine has always been that when I get home from my night shift in the morning, we go outside and she runs around her little yard and pretends to be a Wild Bunny for about twenty minutes while I relax and eat breakfast. She loves it and will go dig at the door to get let out if we don't. She zips around and sits under the rosemary and pretends she knows what she's doing when she digs vaguely in the dirt. I've always loved it and so has she. Who knew we were courting danger? Thanks for the encouragement. George will definitely be a house bunny from this point on just like yours.

 

[JBun]

Glad it worked out I hope all is still going well for your bun and you aren't find any more of these things.